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Topic: Overheard at Work (Read 6835698 times)

A couple who are friends of my parents (50/60s) are buying a house. Financially, they are very timid and outdated - they aren't online, never shop around for utilities, and are probably with the same bank and insurer for the last 30 years, probably paying a fortune for not shopping around.The house purchase has meant that they need to consider getting a mortgage, and they came to me as whilst I am not a trained advisor, I know a bit about finances. They were saying how they wanted to go into a local branch of their bank as they valued having that face-face contact. I strongly advised them against this - the people in the bank branches here in the UK are effectively sales people and will only offer products by that bank. They may even be on commission which could affect their judgement - we've had a lot of scandals where customers were offered inappropriate products that came with high commission for the 'advisor'. I strongly advised them to use an independent broker (preferably more than one), get quotes, and go from there - a broker can check the whole market and can help the process along if they are timid.Their response? They've booked appointments with three local bank branches for next week, and no broker appointments. *facepalm* You just can't help some people. Makes me wonder why they asked for advice if they'd already made up their mind. This decision alone could cost them thousands.

A couple who are friends of my parents (50/60s) are buying a house. Financially, they are very timid and outdated - they aren't online, never shop around for utilities, and are probably with the same bank and insurer for the last 30 years, probably paying a fortune for not shopping around.The house purchase has meant that they need to consider getting a mortgage, and they came to me as whilst I am not a trained advisor, I know a bit about finances. They were saying how they wanted to go into a local branch of their bank as they valued having that face-face contact. I strongly advised them against this - the people in the bank branches here in the UK are effectively sales people and will only offer products by that bank. They may even be on commission which could affect their judgement - we've had a lot of scandals where customers were offered inappropriate products that came with high commission for the 'advisor'. I strongly advised them to use an independent broker (preferably more than one), get quotes, and go from there - a broker can check the whole market and can help the process along if they are timid.Their response? They've booked appointments with three local bank branches for next week, and no broker appointments. *facepalm* You just can't help some people. Makes me wonder why they asked for advice if they'd already made up their mind. This decision alone could cost them thousands.

I heard that banks offer basically the same products as brokers. It makes sense to shop around, but is going to three banks really worse than brokers?

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kt

A couple who are friends of my parents (50/60s) are buying a house. Financially, they are very timid and outdated - they aren't online, never shop around for utilities, and are probably with the same bank and insurer for the last 30 years, probably paying a fortune for not shopping around.The house purchase has meant that they need to consider getting a mortgage, and they came to me as whilst I am not a trained advisor, I know a bit about finances. They were saying how they wanted to go into a local branch of their bank as they valued having that face-face contact. I strongly advised them against this - the people in the bank branches here in the UK are effectively sales people and will only offer products by that bank. They may even be on commission which could affect their judgement - we've had a lot of scandals where customers were offered inappropriate products that came with high commission for the 'advisor'. I strongly advised them to use an independent broker (preferably more than one), get quotes, and go from there - a broker can check the whole market and can help the process along if they are timid.Their response? They've booked appointments with three local bank branches for next week, and no broker appointments. *facepalm* You just can't help some people. Makes me wonder why they asked for advice if they'd already made up their mind. This decision alone could cost them thousands.

I heard that banks offer basically the same products as brokers. It makes sense to shop around, but is going to three banks really worse than brokers?

brokers can look at the whole market, all of the numerous offerings from all banks and building societies. If you go to a bank, they will only advise you on their deals. They are sales people for their bank. Going to three is better than one but I can easily think of 9 banks off the top of my head so they're missing a huge number of products which, though fairly similar, may be much better on such a long term item.

if they value face-to-face contact i'm sure they can meet up with a whole-of-market broker in person. we are planning to in a few weeks.

I heard that banks offer basically the same products as brokers. It makes sense to shop around, but is going to three banks really worse than brokers?

In my opinion, yes. For two reasons.1) The banks are often not allowed to offer advice. They can tell you about the products, and hand you all the leaflets, but you have to make the decision. This is not ideal for these people who don't really know what they are doing. A broker can offer an advised service and can assist the process along.2) The brokers can access many more mortgage deals from hundreds of suppliers (not just 3 banks). Some of the deals they can access aren't available on the high-street regardless of the number of banks you go to. Branches have to be really conservative and cautious because a mortgage default looks really bad on their books, so a broker can help get more borrowing if needed. Finally, I was in the odd situation where I sat in a branch of my local bank as an existing mortgage customer and he offered x rate, and then I went through a broker who could access a lower rate with the same bank.

This is a GOOD overheard at work story! After telling my boss & coworkers how much I love using spreadsheets, my boss came into work today to tell me he set up a spreadsheet to track his expenses! Yay!

Yesterday had a conversation with a girl who works for me excitedly telling me how she just sunk her ass $27,000 in debt for a 2013 Ford Edge Limited Edition that she will be driving alone - even though her husband works in the same building! Today had another guy who works for me tell me about what a great deal he got on his $1600 washer/dryer set - WTF!?! That thing better do more than wash & dry my clothes (if you know what I mean).

Yesterday had a conversation with a girl who works for me excitedly telling me how she just sunk her ass $27,000 in debt for a 2013 Ford Edge Limited Edition that she will be driving alone - even though her husband works in the same building! Today had another guy who works for me tell me about what a great deal he got on his $1600 washer/dryer set - WTF!?! That thing better do more than wash & dry my clothes (if you know what I mean).

I think I know what you mean. But I thought that the robotics necessary to sort and fold clothing was way more than $1600. I doubt it was that great of a deal.

Yesterday had a conversation with a girl who works for me excitedly telling me how she just sunk her ass $27,000 in debt for a 2013 Ford Edge Limited Edition that she will be driving alone - even though her husband works in the same building!

Yesterday had a conversation with a girl who works for me excitedly telling me how she just sunk her ass $27,000 in debt for a 2013 Ford Edge Limited Edition that she will be driving alone - even though her husband works in the same building!

Coworker is finally selling is Porsche. I naively thought "Wow, good for him; he can finally unlock that equity get something reasonable like an adult." He's picking up his 2014 Dodge Challenger on Friday.

Found out today that one of our managers bought packing tape for one of his remote tech guys. Why? Because they don't have a credit card and don't have $46 cash to buy tape, then wait 1-2 weeks for reimbursement. So the manager had to call Office Depot in another state and arrange for a pickup order on his own credit card.

Another coworker is dealing with a furniture company because the coffee table of his expensive suite of living room furniture is falling apart. They only want to refund him part of the cost of the messed-up table. He asked me what I would do in his place, and I told him that I'd go with the mismatched look, which is considered to be more stylish than all matchy-matchy. He got all O.O and I mentioned that none of our living room furniture was purchased at the same time or the same place, and our coffee table is my great-grandmother's steamer trunk.

Coworker is finally selling is Porsche. I naively thought "Wow, good for him; he can finally unlock that equity get something reasonable like an adult." He's picking up his 2014 Dodge Challenger on Friday.

Maybe I need to limit the time I spend on this thread (and subforum) -- I'm starting to wonder if the "grown-up" is a mythical creature, whether they ever existed at all. Most people just seem to plateau early in their maturation, but are allowed to make bigger and bigger choices as they age.

"Man, I just traded up trucks and refinanced. Now my payment is only $250 a month, and it's a little better on gas. Really only costs me about $600 a month to drive it. If I don't trade up this time it should be paid off in 5 years."

Me: I paid 1500 cash for my scoot. it gets 65mpg (note, this was a smaller and oft abused 50cc), I don't put plates on it, and the insurance is $100 a year for full coverage.

Now, this gent does use a truck, perhaps 15x a year, so, totally justified, right? :P

A coworker upon learning I don't watch television or movies: "Wait, but what do you do?!?!"

Oh I don't know, work, freelance, knit, cook, read, bake, clean, socialize? I have more stuff I want to do than I have time for by a factor of ten!

I unfortunately do waste too much time on TV/movies, but your last two sentences really resonated with me. I get so confused when people say they're "bored." what?!? other than the obvious exception of being trapped in a boring meeting or lecture, I haven't been bored since I was probably 12. there is SO MUCH SHIT TO DO all the time!!! and most of it I like to do/it's interesting! how can you be BORED?!

A coworker upon learning I don't watch television or movies: "Wait, but what do you do?!?!"

Oh I don't know, work, freelance, knit, cook, read, bake, clean, socialize? I have more stuff I want to do than I have time for by a factor of ten!

I unfortunately do waste too much time on TV/movies, but your last two sentences really resonated with me. I get so confused when people say they're "bored." what?!? other than the obvious exception of being trapped in a boring meeting or lecture, I haven't been bored since I was probably 12. there is SO MUCH SHIT TO DO all the time!!! and most of it I like to do/it's interesting! how can you be BORED?!

I learned to make my own fun when I was a kid. If I complained I was bored, my mother would give me chores.

haha yes this! Although...if I visit home for more than 5 days this still happens to me! Then my mom tells me to go home :P

A coworker upon learning I don't watch television or movies: "Wait, but what do you do?!?!"

Oh I don't know, work, freelance, knit, cook, read, bake, clean, socialize? I have more stuff I want to do than I have time for by a factor of ten!

I've known a number of people who were concerned that they wouldn't know what to do with their time when they retired. Like you, I could retire now, and I reckon that I still wouldn't have enough time to get around to all those interesting things I'd like to do!

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mikecorayer

I've known a number of people who were concerned that they wouldn't know what to do with their time when they retired. Like you, I could retire now, and I reckon that I still wouldn't have enough time to get around to all those interesting things I'd like to do!

Absolutely. I took a year off from my job last year and it seemed like all I heard was "don't you get bored?" or some variant of an incredulous "what do you do all day?" implying I couldn't possibly find enough to do without having a full-time job. Of course, this line of questioning was second only to some variant of "what about money?"

I, however, felt that I never had nearly enough time for all the things I wanted to do; books I wanted to read, skills I wanted to learn, people I wanted to spend time with, etc. etc. etc.

I work for an electric utility. I was out in the field doing some work in a company vehicle, with the company logo on the side. I pulled up in front of a house in kind of a poor neighborhood. A lady opened the front door and asked if I was going to shut her power off. She said she would pay her bill right that minute if it meant not shutting her off. I assured her that I was not there to shut off her power.

I work for an electric utility. I was out in the field doing some work in a company vehicle, with the company logo on the side. I pulled up in front of a house in kind of a poor neighborhood. A lady opened the front door and asked if I was going to shut her power off. She said she would pay her bill right that minute if it meant not shutting her off. I assured her that I was not there to shut off her power.

This is really sad. I get variations all the time at work, usually from parents who can't afford art lessons or activities for their kids. If I know the situation (small, small town) I do what I can to make sure that kid gets help. But most of the time it is two working parent households making well over 6 figures (sometimes each) who's cheques bounce, or who has to wait for the next paycheque to put their kid in a $7.00 class. About all I can do is fit financial literacy and life skills into lessons under the guise of "art" and hope the kids turn out better then their parents.

I get so confused when people say they're "bored." what?!? other than the obvious exception of being trapped in a boring meeting or lecture, I haven't been bored since I was probably 12. there is SO MUCH SHIT TO DO all the time!!! and most of it I like to do/it's interesting! how can you be BORED?!

I get so confused when people say they're "bored." what?!? other than the obvious exception of being trapped in a boring meeting or lecture, I haven't been bored since I was probably 12. there is SO MUCH SHIT TO DO all the time!!! and most of it I like to do/it's interesting! how can you be BORED?!

Damn right!

Agreed. Oh and long haul flights are pretty boring too, books and movies are only entertaining for the first 12 hours or so ;-)

As I passed two coworkers maybe in their early 50s on my way out of work the other day, they were speculating about winning the lottery. Cw1 was saying she didn't need $200 million, that hell even $500,000 was all she'd need to get by on.

Cw1 turned to me and wistfully asked, "Do you ever think about what you would do with $500,000?"

I was super awkward about it, but at least I didn't tell the truth. She's on approximately the same salary as me, and I'll easily hit $500,000 in liquid investments some time in 2015 by, you know, saving it...

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'Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I will move the world.' --Archimedes

From a co-worker who just bought an enormous, very, very expensive house and decorated it from scratch with all new furniture and art (all bought with a HELOC) and who now says that she can't retire because her (grown) children cost too much money:

Me: I'm hoping to retire very soon.

Her: Retire?

Me: Well, we're saving our pennies and working on paying off the house.

Her: Well we're out of debt now.

Me (confused look): Except for the house?

Her: Yes. We did something very smart! We took all our debts and rolled them into the mortgage on the new house. Now we're out of debt.

From a co-worker who just bought an enormous, very, very expensive house and decorated it from scratch with all new furniture and art (all bought with a HELOC) and who now says that she can't retire because her (grown) children cost too much money:

Me: I'm hoping to retire very soon.

Her: Retire?

Me: Well, we're saving our pennies and working on paying off the house.

Her: Well we're out of debt now.

Me (confused look): Except for the house?

Her: Yes. We did something very smart! We took all our debts and rolled them into the mortgage on the new house. Now we're out of debt.

Me: Except for the house.

Her: Well, yes. Except for the house.

Oh boy, I get that too, "well we have no debt..... except the house and student loans, but I don't really consider those debts"

I wonder if your creditors consider those debts, it just boggles my mind.

Literally... they are retirement-eligible right now. They have a working car that they pretty much only use to get to/from work. But they "need" to finance a shiny new car and work through a few years of payments before they feel free to stop working.

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No one's yet explained to me exactly what's so great about slaving 50 years away on something that you hateAbout meekly shuffling down the path of mediocrityIf that's your road, then take it; but it's not the road for me.

I just started a pair of socks yesterday, but I think someone could swim to Kuala Lumpur before I'll get them done...

I've never had a problem with needles US/Canada/Europe myself, but my SIL had her circs ripped from her socks flying out of Finland. I won't fly with expensive needles, and put in a lifeline before going through security, just in case.

I've flown with my cross-stitch before (even accidentally have taken the razor I used to use to cut my thread through security). Now i just thread an extra needle or two near the zipper of my bag on the theory it'll be harder for them to pick out and object to it.